Coroner & Legal
Saying sorry
Tasmania’s Premier has been brought to tears while giving an apology to victims of forced adoptions.
About 100 people gathered at Parliament House in Hobart to watch the formal apology.
The practice affected thousands of Tasmanians from the 1950s to the 1980s.
In an emotional speech, Premier Lara Giddings said the past practices caused great pain and suffering and the state acknowledged that mothers did not willingly give up their babies.
She said some mothers had faces covered with pillows as they gave birth and were not allowed to touch or see their babies.
“Mothers have told us of their experiences of being drugged during labour, of pain medication being withheld as a punishment for being unmarried,” she said.
“To you the mothers who have suffered so much we acknowledge your anger and your grief and your deep, deep loss and we are sorry.”
The Premier told a packed public gallery that forced adoptions were not only wrong by today’s values but were illegal.
• FORCED ADOPTIONS APOLOGY
Nick McKim MP
Greens Leader
Thursday, 18 October 2012
The Tasmanian Greens said today’s apology to Tasmanians affected by past forced adoption policies and practices was a significant first step in making amends for past wrongs.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said Tasmania is the first state to have recognised that the forced removal of children from their mother at birth was not only immoral, but also illegal.
Mr McKim as Leader delivered a formal response to the Apology, and Greens Children’s spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP, and Greens Minister for Human Services Cassy O’Connor MP, also spoke to the Apology.
“Not only is this apology long overdue recognition of the hurtful, damaging and unethical practices and policies of the past, but significantly it recognises that these past practices were illegal,” Mr McKim said.
“This is one of the greatest moral and legal failings in Tasmania’s history, and we can only hope that this apology will go some way to healing the pain felt by so many.”
“If we in the Parliament are going to stand here and pledge not to allow the mistakes of the past to be repeated, then we will need to back our words with action.”
“The Greens therefore welcome the Premier’s decision to heed the call to provide practical assistance to those who have been affected by forced adoption, including providing free access to records and specialised counselling.”
“It was not only governments involved in this practice, there were many non-government organisations whose charity was in short supply when they aided and abetted the forced removal of children from their parents.”
“Many of those organisations are yet to apologise and we urge them to face up to the wrongs of the past, and we urge them to also apologise for the harm they have helped to create.”
“We owe the many children, mothers, fathers, grandparents others affected by forced adoption a debt of thanks for your determination to see this veil of secrecy, and disbelief drawn aside.”
“The struggle by so many people to reconnect with a lost child or parent, which has spilled out from the shadows of shame, and emerged from beneath the carpets under which it had once been swept, has forced us all to confront this awful truth.”
“Today’s formal apology is a long awaited acknowledgment and recognition of that which was done to these mothers, fathers and adoptees. It acknowledges that these practices were wrong and must not be repeated.”
“It was a moving and humbling experience in the Parliament today, and we hope that the recognition afforded by this formal apology will provide some closure, assist with healing processes, and foster greater understanding throughout the community,” Mr McKim said.
Download:
• Speech delivered by Greens Leader Nick McKim MP, Thursday 18 October 2012: Oct18_Forced_Adoptions_Apology_Speech_by_Nick_McKim_MP_ATTACH.pdf
• Speech delivered by Greens Children’s spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP, Thursday 18 October 2012: Oct18_Forced_Adoptions_Apology_Speech-P_OHalloran_ATTACH.pdf
• Speech delivered by Greens Human Services Minister, Cassy O’Connor MP, Thursday 18 October 2012: Oct18_Forced_Adoptions_Apology_Speech_Cassy_OConnor_MP_ATTACH.pdf